
John Lydgate, Benedictine monk and prolific author of Middle English poetry, began writing the Troy Book in 1412 on commission from the future King Henry V. Taking some eight years to complete, the massive Troy Book adapted Latin and Old French accounts of the Trojan War into...

This was Lydgate's first major work, an attempt to write a poem in English on a noble subject. He was commissioned by Prince Hal, later Henry V.